


i don't wanna love if it's not you.

by scagnetism



Category: Eureka, Warehouse 13
Genre: kinda angsty i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scagnetism/pseuds/scagnetism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I don't wanna hear the wedding bells prove that we can't try one last time; I don't wanna hear the wedding bells chime.</p>
<p>Claudia gets an invitation to Fargo and Holly's wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i don't wanna love if it's not you.

**Author's Note:**

> I heard Wedding Bells by the Jonas Brothers and immediately thought that it would work for Claudia and Fargo...and here we are. Hope you all enjoy. :)

Claudia didn’t get mail sent to her very often, so when Artie let her know there was an envelope for her on the counter, she knew it had to be something serious – and that it was.  She ran her fingers across the gold embossed envelope and felt her heart sink into her stomach.  Her name was printed in the fanciest, twirliest gold font she’d ever seen, and the return address was Eureka.  She knew what it was, but still she had hope that when she opened it, it wouldn’t be exactly what she thought.

But it was.

She was cordially invited to the wedding of Doctor Douglas Fargo and Doctor Holly Marten.  It was supposed to be like this, wasn’t it?  What Claudia had shared with Doug wasn’t anything special.  Even though she kept repeating that to herself, she knew it was a lie.  She had always thought that one day they’d end up together.  She knew it was probably stupid of her to think that way because she couldn’t get to Eureka as often as she wanted, and Doug couldn’t get to South Dakota as much as he wanted, but true love always prevailed, didn’t it?  Isn’t that what every Disney movie and every romantic comedy proved?  The longer she stared at the invitation, the more she believed that wasn’t true.

“Claudia?” a voice said, snapping her out of her trance.  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing paralyzed in the kitchen, but when she turned around, Steve was wearing a worried expression.  “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Claudia lied, stuffing the invitation back into the envelope.  “One of my friends is getting married.”  As she said it, her voice sounded foreign to her.  “Fargo,” she clarified with a nod.  “The one who redid the warehouse computer system.”

“Oh, yeah.  Didn’t you guys have a thing?”

“What?”  She could feel the blush creeping onto her cheeks.  “I wouldn’t say it was a thing.”

“Claudia, you’re lying.”

“I hate that you can do that!”  She sighed.  “Well, it wasn’t really a thing.  Okay, it was kind of a thing.  We kissed.  Kissing is a thing, I guess?  Maybe?  But I don’t know.  Obviously if our thing was important enough, I’d be the one sending out invitations to our wedding, not getting one to his wedding to someone else.”

“You’re upset.”  It wasn’t a question, just a statement.

“Maybe a little.”

“Claudia.”

“Okay, a lot!” she exclaimed.  “A lot upset.  I always had this mental image that we’d end up together and have goofy little techie babies with my hair – and look, Steve, I don’t even like kids, so the fact that this man caused me to have this sort of fantasy says a lot about how highly I think of him – and we’d end up somewhere – where, I don’t know, but we’d be happy.  Because that’s how life’s supposed to be.  But then…every time we talked, he’d mention Holly.  And I guess I tried to brush her off like she was nothing because I was living in my own little delusional dream world, but she’s apparently a very big something because – ”  She pointed to the invitation that she had now crumpled in her hand.  “They’re getting married!”  Claudia rubbed her face and was shocked to find tears were rolling down her cheeks; she hadn’t even noticed she was crying.

Without a word, Steve wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his chest.  “What am I gonna do?” she finally asked, looking up at him and wiping her nose.

“You go,” he said plainly.

“Steve.”  Claudia shook her head.  “I can’t do that,” she replied.  Her voice cracked, and she hated herself for it.  “Going means sitting there and watch him commit to this…commit to not me for the rest of his life.  I’m gonna have to sit there and take that?  Oh, hell no.  Hell no.” 

She started to walk away when Steve grasped her arm lightly.  “I know it’ll be hard.  I know it’ll be one of the hardest things you have to deal with, to sit there and watch him say he belongs to someone else –”

“Oh, yeah, great pep talk, Captain Comfort,” she told him darkly, shaking her head as she felt more tears well.

“But Claud, you have to be there for him.  No, it might not be the way you pictured all of this going, but if you care about him as much as you say you do – and I _know_ you do – you have to be there to support him.  Even if supporting him means hurting you, that’s what love is.  Sometimes, no matter how much it hurts, you have to let go.”

Claudia took a deep breath and refused eye contact with her friend, choosing to look at the ceiling instead.  “I hate it when you’re right,” she mumbled, taking her phone out of her pocket.  “I’ll call now.”

Steve kissed her cheek gently before he started to walk away.  “I’m proud of you.”

With trembling fingers, she pressed speed dial number two – Fargo.  “Hey, Doug,” she said when he picked up.

“Claudia!”  He sounded so cheerful.  “Are you coming?  Do I get to see you?”

“Yeah,” she answered, swallowing the lump in her throat.  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Fargonator.  You know that.”

“I know people usually have their best man, but I was wondering if you’d be that for me?  I know it’s kind of late notice, but I really want you in the wedding!  Because there’s no one I’d rather have than you by my side on my wedding day!”

She squeezed her eyes shut as the tears rolled down her face.  Of course she wanted to be by his side on his wedding day – wearing the ring and wearing white, but she supposed this would have to do.  “I’d love to.”  Her voice was cracking again.

“It’s gonna be like a fairytale!” Doug gushed, and she pictured his smiling face, making it harder for her not to accept the situation.

“I’ll make sure you get your fairytale.”

One of them needed a happy ending.

*

Somehow, when Claudia agreed to be “best man” in Fargo’s wedding, it never occurred to her that it meant she would be _in_ the wedding, standing before the happy couple’s family and friends.  It didn’t occur to her that she was expected to be smiling and thrilled because she was so far from that.  The smile that she plastered on her face for most of the ceremony was wearing thin, and she couldn’t wait for the entire thing to be over.

The wedding party was composed of only six people, and there were only about fifty people in attendance.  When Claudia and Jinksy, who she had conned into going with her as her plus one, arrived at the rehearsal dinner and saw the small crowd, Claudia had chortled, “These are the only people they could find that don’t hate Holly.”  Steve had stuffed a crab puff into her mouth before she could say another word.

It was Holly’s idea to get married at a beautiful lakeside resort on the outskirts of Eureka.  It wasn’t what Claudia would’ve chosen, but she had to admit that it was absolutely beautiful.  Right now, though, the beauty of nature wasn’t what she was focusing on – she was just trying not to keel over.  The breeze didn’t help her feel any less lightheaded, and she was doing all she could not to visibly take in big gulps of air.  Her dress felt too constricting, the bobby pins in her elaborate updo felt like they were stabbing the back of her head, the height of her heels made her feel like she was going to fall, and the petals of the bouquet that were brushing against her wrists felt like spiders crawling up her skin.  Claudia kept looking at Steve who gave her reassuring smile after reassuring smile as well as a thumbs up while he sporadically mouthed, “You’re doin’ great.”

Claudia realized she had tuned out most of the ceremony trying to regulate her breathing in the most inconspicuous way possible, so she focused her attention on the couple again just in time to see them kiss and seal their marriage.  The audience burst into applause, and Claudia followed suit, the fake smile returning to her face.  Fargo looked so happy – his eyes glittered as he looked at Holly, and they laughed as they ran down the small aisle while the crowd threw rice at them.

The pictures with the wedding party had already been taken, so they stood around helplessly as the people started to disperse into the lodge.  As Claudia started toward Steve, she felt an arm around her waist and sought its source.  A genuine grin spread across her face at the sight of Sherriff Carter.  “It’s been so long,” he said, pulling her into a big hug.

“Too long!” she agreed.  “What have you been up to?”

“Same old, but you know that the same old around here never quite gets old.  Always something new added to my daily grind.”

“It’s like that in South Dakota, too.  Papa Bear Artie still thinks he can control me, though, but I’m all woman now.”  She heard a snort behind her and turned to see Jinksy.  “You two haven’t met.  Sherriff Carter, this is my partner, Steve Jinks.  But I like to call him Jinksy because it’s not his favorite thing in the world and because he has catlike reflexes.  And Jinksy, this is Sherriff Carter, undoubtedly the coolest guy you’ll meet in this town.”

The two men shook hands.  “Nice to meet you,” Steve said.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Sherriff Carter replied with a nod.  He turned his attention back to Claudia.  “I think it was amazing of you to stand up there and be there for Fargo.”

Claudia felt her face get hot.  “Uh, what are you talking about?” she asked nervously.  “He’s my best friend.  Why, uh, wouldn’t I be there?”  The look that came over Jinksy’s face told her that her lie was so bad it physically pained him.

Sherriff Carter shook his head as a smile appeared on his lips.  “Yeah, okay.  He pined over you for months, Claudia.  Months.”

“It wasn’t…I never…”  She looked at Steve in a panic.

“He’s glad you’re here,” he assured, patting her arm lightly before heading away.  “I’ll see you guys at the reception.”

*

“There you are!” Fargo chirped, walking onto the balcony of the lodge where Claudia was standing alone.

The light breeze had made the night chilly, and she was wearing Steve’s suit coat over her shoulders, wisps of red escaping the updo and waving in the night as she turned to Fargo.  “Here I am,” she replied, deadpan as she held up her beer in a half-hearted toast.

“I’ve been looking for you!”

Claudia was doing her best to avoid him – and everyone else, really.  Steve wanted to join her outside, but she insisted she’d only be a few minutes.  He watched worryingly out the window while he occasionally paced by the door.  It’d been ten minutes, and he was relieved when he saw Fargo join her.  “And now you found me.”

“I just wanted to say thank you,” he said softly, and she made eye contact with him for the first time all day.  There was a sparkle lingering all over his body, and he was giddier than she’d ever seen him.

“Psh, you’ve got nothing to thank me for,” she told him, taking a swig of her drink.  “All I did was stand there and look pretty.  As we all know, that’s something that comes easily to me, but if my feet have to be amputated because these shoes have left unfixable damage, then you’re the one paying for my medical bills.”  She smiled and jabbed him gently with her elbow.

Fargo chuckled and looked out at the lake.  “That’s the Claudia I know.  She’s been…missing today.”

“She’s been right here.”

“No.”  Fargo shook his head.  “No, she hasn’t been.  That smile today – that was so fake!  God, I know you better than just about anyone.”

“I don’t think you do,” she whispered, instantly regretting her choice of words.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Claudia looked at her friend who almost looked like a little boy playing dress up – it was his wedding day, for god’s sake, and he was standing outside with her.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this, and she suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her.  As much as she loved him and wanted to be with him, she could see the unfairness of this situation.  She shouldn’t be getting Fargo’s attention – Holly should be.  His wife.  “Uh.”  She faked a smile again.  “Nothing.”  She could feel the tears forming in her eyes and could see one inching its way down her false eyelash.  She quickly ran her finger over it before it could fall.  “Damnit.  Is it crooked now?  I’m not used to wearing all this girly shit.”

“It looks fine,” Fargo answered, touching her wrist lightly, “but what’s the problem?”

She wanted to tell him, and she owed it to him to tell him, but she couldn’t bring herself to form the words.  “Weddings always make me mopey,” Claudia blurted, and she felt her expression falter.  What a lame excuse. 

“They do?”  A raised eyebrow.

“Yes, they do.  Yeah, that’s what we’re going with.  Totally not my thing.  You know, all the…love and…whatnot.  Yeah, not my scene.  I’d rather not…do…that.”

He looked at her confusedly.

“Look, you shouldn’t even be out here.”  She finally stepped away from the balcony and paced across the wooden deck, heels clicking with each step.  “It’s your wedding!  You’re gonna get laid tonight!  That’s so exciting for you!  So go be in there with your wife.”  The word tasted sour on her tongue.  “Go be merry.  Even if it’s without me.”

“But I don’t want it to be,” Fargo explained, grabbing her hand.  “I want to know what’s wrong.  I’ve never seen you like this, Claudia.”

She shifted her gaze to the stars and let out a sigh before making eye contact with him again.  “I love you,” she said simply.  “That’s all.”  It wasn’t time for the details or that it was in a romantic way – it was something that he needed to know.

Fargo’s look softened and a small smile curved his lips.  “I love you, too.”

“And I…”  She felt tears welling in her eyes.  “Shit, shit, shit.”  Claudia stamped on the ground a few times, causing Fargo to elicit a giggle.  “Emotions aren’t my thing.  But I want the best for you.  I worry for you, and I shouldn’t because if you think Holly is perfect for you, then she probably is, so, just, whatever, okay?  I’m happy for you.” 

He pulled her into a tight hug, and she blinked back the last of her tears, brushing the stray ones off his tux jacket.  “At least my mascara is black, so if it stains, it won’t show, and you can get your full deposit back,” Claudia jested in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

“This doesn’t change anything between us,” Fargo whispered.

She shrugged.  “Even if it does, whatever.  Be happy.  Go back inside.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?  Are we okay?”

“You’re my best friend.”  Her smile was weak, and she knew it.  “I had a stupid little fantasy wish about us.”

“And I did, too, and I really wanted to…”  He trailed off.

“I know.”  She nodded.  “I know.  But things happen, and you found Holly, and that was what was best for you.  I know that.”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know that, too.”  Claudia threw her free hand in the air.  “Me being upset isn’t going to change a single thing, and I guess that’s the main lesson I’ve learned today, and I should’ve figured that out a long time ago, but it took me this long, so please, Doug, just go back inside with your wife.  I’ll be fine.”

Fargo hesitantly looked at the door, then back to Claudia.  “I’m sorry.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”  She patted his shoulder lightly.  “I’m happy for you.  Really.”

He planted a soft kiss on her cheek before giving her a grin and walking back inside.  She waved goodbye to him a few seconds after he left, not even noticing automatically that he was gone.  Her chin started to tremble, and as soon as the tears started to fall, she felt a warm pair of arms around her body.  “Are you okay?” Steve asked, holding out a tissue to her, and she realized she didn’t even see him walk out to be with her.

“No,” she retorted truthfully, gently wiping her eyes and hoping to salvage what was left of her wedding makeup.  “Not at all.  But maybe one day soon I will be.”

Steve wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she let her head fall against him.  Through the window, they could see Fargo and Holly pressed close to one another as they glided across the floor for their first dance.   “It’ll be okay,” Steve assured when he saw the look that came over Claudia’s face at the sight of the happy couple.  “It might seem like it won’t ever be okay, but it’ll be okay.”

She nodded and smiled at him.  “Thanks for everything today, Jinksy.  I couldn’t have made it through without you.”  With a deep breath, Claudia added, “Are you ready to go back inside?”

“Only if you are.”  He grinned.

*

“And Pete was totally gonna die if it weren’t for me, but then I – ”  Claudia was in the midst of telling Sherriff Carter an exciting story when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  The tears had dried, and she was finally starting to enjoy herself thanks to Steve’s attempts to turn her mood around.

“May I have this dance?” Fargo quizzed with a smile, holding out his hand to her.

Claudia knew her cheeks were turning red as she looked back and forth from Steve to Sherriff Carter.  “You can finish that tale later, Claud,” Sherriff Carter told her with a wink.

She stood up and put an arm around Fargo’s waist.  “I had to dance with my favorite girl.  Well, after my wife of course.”

“If she wasn’t your favorite woman in the room, we’d have a huge problem,” Claudia admitted as they stepped onto the dance floor.

As they swayed to the music together, she closed her eyes.  She imagined that it was her in the white dress, her wearing the ring, her as his wife, and she knew that things played out the way they did for a reason.  “You okay?” Fargo murmured.

Claudia hesitated for a moment, but she couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her lips.  “Yeah.  I’m okay.”


End file.
